Tanka
/ˈtɑːŋ.kə/noun
A Japanese poem consisting of five lines with a 5–7–5–7–7 syllable pattern.
Did you know?Tanka developed from the older Japanese waka tradition and was often used to express intimate love, grief, political feeling, and fleeting encounters with nature.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Chinese
Middle Chinese
短歌
“A compound meaning “short song”; the characters were later read with Sino-Japanese pronunciations.”
8th Century
Old Japanese
短歌 (tanka)
“A “short song” contrasted with the longer chōka, or “long poem,” in early Japanese poetry.”
759
Japanese
短歌
“The term appears in the Man'yōshū, Japan’s earliest major poetry anthology, for the compact five-line form.”
Heian Period
Japanese
和歌 (waka)
“The form became known broadly as waka, “Japanese song,” and flourished in courtly poetry and love exchange.”
19th Century
Japanese
短歌 (tanka)
“Modern reformers revived the term tanka to distinguish the traditional form from newer Western-influenced poetry.”
Modern English
English
tanka
“An English loanword for the traditional Japanese 31-syllable poetic form.”